Sunday, April 21, 2013

[Updated] Early-morning fire at 116 E. Fourth St., home of Mono + Mono


[Via EVG reader kke7st]


An early-morning two-alarm fire ripped through 116 E. Fourth St., a single-level commercial building that houses Mono + Mono. Bystanders were told that the fire started in the restaurant's kitchen. There were no reports of injuries here between First Avenue and Second Avenue. No word just yet on the extent of the damage at the restaurant or any adjacent buildings.

The restaurant serves Korean fried chicken and is known for playing classic jazz music — boasting a collection of more than 30,000 vinyl records that are played through vintage tube amplifiers.

Witnesses reported hearing an explosion before the fire, per Twitter. The FDNY evacuated residents at 118 E. Fourth St., according to people on the scene.


[Via EVG reader kke7st]

And via EVG correspondent jdx ...







EVG reader Marina, who shared the next two photos, praised the FDNY's speedy response...





Here's a photo via Jeffrey Borenstein looking north from First Avenue toward the flames...



And the scene on the north side of East Third Street via jdx ... where firefighters accessed buildings to help extinguish the blaze...





More from East Third Street via EVG reader Margo...







Several witnesses said that members of the Hells Angels yelled at the FDNY to watch their bikes.

This is the second major fire in the East Village this past week. Late Tuesday night, a fire claimed the life of 84-year-old Mary Lincoln Bonnell in a fire at 115. Fourth Ave. The FDNY said that a discarded cigarette caused the fire.

Updated 1 p.m.

Here's an update from Mono + Mono here.

6 comments:

Jill said...

Oh no. That record collection...

Hey19 said...

Very Sad, all those records. I wasnt crazy about this place, but I wanted to like them, just cause of their commitment to jazz. They did a lot of work on that interior, its too bad to see it get destroyed.

Anonymous said...

More importantly, were the Hells Angels' bikes spared?

vzabuser said...

Records are ok..a few are Wet thats it!

Anonymous said...

Something is weird here. I live right next door and spotted the fire out of my back window after my girlfriend and I started smelling smoke. There was actually a huge fire in a shed on the rooftop at the back of 114 E 4th, next door to mono mono at 116. This shed is visible if you zoom in on the aerial view on Bing maps but not Google maps (it must have been put up after the Google maps satellite photo was taken). This shed was a gigantic flaming inferno, and now there is a burned out hole in this back roof of 114 E. 4th. I have photos. Very late Saturday after the fire was out I saw firemen hosing down what was left of this shed as it smoldered. There was a lot of clattering that sounded like ceramic dishes coming from the shed as it was hosed down. Was this a mono mono storeroom? Really my question is whether this shed was there illegally, because it was clearly a large part of the fire that could have put me out of my house. Also none of the coverage I've seen has mentioned that multiple apartments at 114 E. 4th had their back windows knocked out so the NYFD could bring hoses through. I feel terrible for those people as their homes and belongings suffered a lot of damage even though they weren't burned. I look forward to the results of the fire investigation. I like mono mono just fine and have eaten there a few times but there's some part of this that is going unreported.

Anonymous said...

WTF i just ate there the night before with dumbfoundead &lyricks and some friends ,my friend runs this place :( hope it gets back up and running soon !